When I was growing up, there were very definite rules about what you did or did not do at the dinner table. Obviously, everyone was expected to wash their hands before coming to the table and then to wait quietly while prayer was offered. To this day, if I rush to eat something without doing both of those things, I feel wrong, I feel incomplete. Just have to wash hands and pray before eating.
You know how in one Scripture Jesus said to His disciples, “Watch and pray"? Well, in our house, we pronounced it a little differently: "Wash and pray".
But there was another cleanliness rule. This rule was that nobody sat at our dinner table in bare feet. You had to wear shoes to the table.
Now being a boy with an analytical turn of mind (my father used to say that the very first word I learned was "Why?"), as somebody who always had to know why, I questioned that policy. "Mother, I am not planning to pick up my food between my toes. Why do I have to wear shoes?" “Because your feet are dirty, and we don't want dirt at the dinner table."
Now I had a comeback for that. So the issue is not footwear, the issue is dirt. "Mother, what if I wash my feet at the same time as I wash my hands"? Sounds reasonable to me; doesn't that sound like it would work?
"No, they are feet and feet are always dirty. Put on some shoes."
Feet are always dirty. I don't know that my mother knew that she was making a profound theological statement, but she was. Feet are always dirty. We constantly walk through the valleys of temptation, we wade through the swamps of despondency. We climb all over the jagged boulders of despair, and we run down the slippery slopes of anger. Our feet are always dirty.
But whereas my dirty feet, exposed and grimy, were not welcome at the dinner table, let me tell you about a Table where dirty feet may be placed. Whereas my unshod and unwashed feet were banished from my mother's table, let me tell you this morning about the Father's Table, where, in fact, no other feet but dirty feet may come.
I
You see, the Lord Jesus, on the night before He was betrayed, took a towel, and prepared to wash the feet of His friends gathered at the Table. He knew those feet were dirty; He knew those lives were unclean, He knew those hearts were impure. But He knew too that He had the remedy. He washed their feet.
The Scripture tells us that when Jesus came to Peter, Peter tried to stop him, "Lord, you will never wash my feet," Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me."
Friends, we are here as a Christian church because we have learned that the cleansing work of Christ is necessary. It is critical.
My mother was right. "Feet are always dirty." No amount of scrubbing and washing could have made them acceptable at the dinner table. There are some things we simply know are correct. I will tell you that as clearly as I know anything, I know that we are not capable on our own of dealing with the problems that lie right here, inside the human heart. We are simply not able to do it, and in fact, if you tell me that with nothing more than will power you can correct that alcohol problem, if you argue that with nothing more than your own strength you can handle that honesty issue; if you insist that you are all you need to confront that hostility thing ... if you tell me any of those things, then I will quickly tell you that you have just convinced me more than ever that neither you nor I are large enough to deal with our own needs. We don't even see them for what they are.
We need help. Feet are always dirty, Christ Jesus is able to cleanse us, and we need Him for that. "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." I am telling you this morning about the Father's Table, under which all have dirty feet. But they can be cleansed,
II
But then it is still true that feet are always dirty: lives are always incomplete. Lives are never quite finished.
But when Jesus the Christ cleanses us, His cleansing is sufficient even though it may not appear to be complete. Let me say that again. When Christ cleanses us, it is sufficient. It may not seem to be complete, but it is sufficient.
Peter, having been told that the washing of his feet was absolutely necessary … Peter responds, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head." Give me, Lord, a full wash and wax job with all the detailing!
But Jesus said to Peter, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean." I have washed your feet, Peter, and that is enough. No, you are not perfect. You are not fully mature. But you have now received all that it takes to get you on the road. You have the only thing you need.
You see, our Christ in forgiving us does the one thing we absolutely have to have. But at the same time He does not destroy our responsibility for own lives. Christ does the one thing that is critical, but He does not do everything. There is much for which we remain responsible. The point is that He has given us the start we have to have.
When I was an engineering student, taking all kinds of math classes, I found that the textbooks had an annoying habit of presenting problems and their solutions in a format that got the student started but did not finish the job. There would be this long and complex problem; and the textbook author would write out and explain the first two or three steps. Then he would say, "from this we may easily obtain the answer, x equals 12" … or whatever. As students we disputed that word "easily". It never seemed to be as easy as the author implied. But the truth is, that as we worked at it, we would find that he had given us the start we needed in order to solve the problem. He did not insult our intelligence by giving us every step, nor did he cut us off from a learning experience by doing all the work for us. But he did show us how to start.
I think it's much like that when you come to Christ. His cleansing power gets us started. He does for us what we have to have done. He washes those dirty feet. But then it is up to us to keep on growing; it is up to us to use what He has given us to keep on solving our problems. The grace of Christ is not only that He freely cleanses us, but also that He does just enough to launch us toward maturity. He then leaves us with the glory of working it all out for ourselves.
"One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean." I am telling you this morning about the Father’s Table, under which all have dirty feet, but those whose feet are cleansed there lose all their guilty stains.
III
Finally, when we with our dirty feet under this Table are cleansed and started toward completeness, we are empowered to cleanse others. When we whose tawdriness the Lord has begun to wash away discover how thorough and far-reaching is our cleansing, then we are empowered to serve and cleanse others.
I suppose there is no more difficult human problem than the problem of motivation. How do you motivate others to do what you believe they are supposed to do? How does a parent get a child to exercise responsibility? How do you get a worker to live up to the goals of the organization? How do you fire up somebody so that not only do they do what they are required to do but are willing to go beyond it, to be creative, to do more than the minimum?
Those of you who do personnel work or human resources management work, you know what I am talking about. You know that you get caught up in endless discussions about hours and wages and benefits and what is minimally acceptable performance and what is the least we can expect from employees. You know that when you find someone who is motivated to do his job and do it creatively, and then keep on doing …you know you have found a rare gem.
But what do you do with the others who are motivated only to do the bare minimum, who seem to be interested only in collecting the paycheck?
After Jesus had washed His disciples’ feet, He interpreted what He had done. "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example … servants are not greater than their master."
We motivate others by serving them. We move others to perform by meeting their needs at the deepest level possible. We wash their dirty feet.
Sometimes that will be in the form of tough love. There will be times when parents will have to say to children, "Because I love you, I am disciplining you. We are going to work together to solve this mess, and you will have to do something. But I will help you."
There will be times when a supervisor will have to say to an employee, "Because I care about you and want to see you succeed, I am going to work with you about your performance. You will have to work at this. But I will help you succeed. I will serve you. I will wash your dirty feet."
Many of us here have been given stewardship over the successes of others. How can you motivate them? How can you bring them along and influence them?
We do so by remembering that once we too were nothing but dirty
feet, stained, misshapen, incapable, and uncertain. But we remember that there is a Father's Table under which our dirty feet were cleansed and our lives were set in a new direction, and so we humbly serve others, that they also may know the power of love's forgiveness.
"If I, Your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. Servants are no greater than their master." Employees are no better than their supervisors, children rise no higher than their parents.
Mother used to say, "Feet are always dirty," and so they are. The tables of this world disdain dirty feet, and proclaim, "Unwelcome."
But today we come to the Father's Table, where none but dirty feet are welcome and from which cleansed hearts and cleansing lives go forth.
